The Other Potter

Venus

The weeks passed quickly, as they always did in the summer term, but Elijah had to admit, he was having a lot more fun this term than all the others before. He and Nik could hardly keep their hands to themselves, sneaking off whenever given the chance. They found new hiding spots all around the castle, and he'd even snuck onto the ship one night to sleep next to Nik in his bed.

One Saturday morning, they were lying in Elijah's bed, the others had left hours ago to go to Hogsmeade, both of them tangled in sheets. Nik was gently tracing his fingers over Elijah's tattooed back, as the Slytherin boy lay on his stomach, looking out the window to the depths of the lake.

"What are you thinking about?" Nik whispered.

Elijah blinked a few times, pulled out of his daze by the others voice, "Hm.. Nothing." he lied, rolling over to look at the other. But if he was being honest, as each day passed he kept thinking about the deal with Dumbledore and the final task.

"You're a terrible liar," Nik smirked, pressing a soft kiss to the other's lips.

"That's not true." he pouted.

"It is." The blond snickered. "Can I ask you something?" he murmured, a slight frown on his features.

Elijah furrowed his brows, sitting up a little. "What's wrong?"

"You don't have to tell me, but.. Can I know more about your parents?"

The younger boy stopped himself from groaning because it wasn't Nik's fault that he didn't know anything about the Potters aside from the obvious, instead, he gave a small nod. "What do you want to know?"

Nik thought about it for a long moment, "Do you have any good memories with them?" he asked softly. He seemed to be trying to approach the subject gently. Not something Elijah was used to, and something he wasn't sure he'd tried to do even by himself.

The brunette nodded, "Yeah, a few." he murmured, shifting a little to rest his head on Nik's chest. "Like when I got my first broom and was chasing Dad around the living room or a family picnic we had where Mum and I made daisy-chains, or helping bake Harry's birthday cake with her... There are a few others, but, it wasn't always bad."

"When did it change? Was it an event that changed everything, or was it gradual?"

Elijah let out a heavy sigh, he felt uncomfortable. He hadn't even gone into this much detail with Remus and Sirius, and he felt extremely vulnerable. "I- I think it was an event.."

Nik noticed the other tense against him, slowly looking down at him. "We don't have to talk about it if you-"

"No, it's ok. I can do it. It's just.. I've not told anyone this before, other than a very select few." he could count them on one hand; Regulus, Lucas, and Alix. He was sure Remus and Sirius would one day find out, but so much had happened between when they met and now that they hadn't dived that far into the past with him. Perhaps Regulus would tell them.

"I think it was when I was six. We went to the lake house for the summer. Harry and I went to play outside and stumbled across a Black Adder in the woods next to the house.. I spoke to it, and when my parents found out, things just went quiet. Dumbledore came around to my parents' house and spoke with me, and I was pulled out of muggle school and had to study with a private Wizard tutor, and.. It was all a bit strange. Things just were never the same, Dad just sort of stopped talking to me and Mum tried for a while before she just.. Gave up, I guess. I don't know. After that, things continued to get worse, and signs of magic I showed were evaluated by Dumbledore and my tutor, and when I was put into Slytherin.. I guess they assumed because I could talk to snakes and because I was put into Slytherin I'd be a bad wizard. Maybe. I don't think I'm bad- I- I don't really know if I'm good one either though, I suppose." He shrugged, slowly moving himself off ,the other's chest and settled back against his pillow. He didn't like talking about any of this, it made him question himself and what his purpose was.